Back-to-school time for head lice

SHERMAN, TX - With some schools already in session and other students preparing to return to class, health officials want to remind parents of a health problem that seems to rear its ugly head this time of year. Jalah Gray talked to the experts about just how serious head lice can be, h ow to prevent the spread, and how you can get rid of the pesky bugs.

Hairdresser Garrett Patton says it happens to just about everyone at some point.

"It happens to everybody, I mean everybody I know has had head lice at one point in time."

And yet it's still a social stigma dealing with head lice. When it comes to these annoying critters, misconceptions continue to confuse and embarrass parents, which mother of three Cissy Oldner says is just ridiculous.

"It was so rampant in my girls' elementary school, which is an exemplary, very good elementary school, and nobody would talk about it," Oldner says.

Getting head lice is commonly associated with being uncleanly. Pediatrician Ted Hayes says this is definitely not true.

"Well first of all parents need to relax. Having head lice is not an indication of personal hygiene," Dr. Hayes says.

Dr. Hayes says there are several options to treat lice. Prescription medications will kill the bugs and the nits, but if you decide to go with a drug store product, he says they aren't always as effective.

"If you use a lot of the over-the-counter medications, because they're weaker you have to combine that with combing to get rid of the nits because the eggs aren't always killed every time."

If you're worried about chemicals in traditional lice treatments, experts say there are some natural alternatives.

"Well my mom always told me to use olive oil. It's smothers the nits and the live lice. It's a little bit difficult to get out, but it's also good for somebody who doesn't have the money for rid or nix."

With a $400 tax credit, Julia Raye of North Carolina has been able to afford health insurance and keep her diabetes under control. She is one of 8.2 million people who could lose that subsidy in a case that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday.

AP Top Health Stories

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The homeless man shot dead by Los Angeles policemen on Sunday during a skid-row scuffle in which police say he grabbed at an officer's gun had previously served time in federal prison for armed bank robbery, a law-enforcement source said on Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times, citing records and its own sources, said the man was identified as Charley Saturmin Robinet, 39, a French national, who was accused of pistol-whipping a bank teller during the 2000 holdup of a Wells Fargo Bank branch. Authorities have yet to publicly identify the man who was fatally shot by three Los Angeles Police Department officers outside the Union Rescue Mission when they approached him in response to a reported skid-row robbery on Sunday.

'Over the counter' birth control pills might save public moneyBy Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - Providing no- or low-cost birth control pills over the counter may reduce costs and prevent up to a quarter of unplanned pregnancies, researchers say. Many women would likely start using oral contraceptives if they were available with little or no up-front cost over the counter instead of with a prescription, they suggest in the journal Contraception. “Making pills available without a prescription would remove the need for unnecessary, time-consuming and sometimes expensive visits to doctors’ offices and clinics,” wrote Diana Foster, the study’s lead author from the University of California, San Francisco, in an email to Reuters Health. The researchers used computer models to analyze several studies and databases to predict how unintended pregnancy rates might change if birth control pills were available without a prescription and with little or no cost.

Budget cuts could delay high-tech arms programs: U.S. defense chiefU.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter testified on Tuesday that deep budget cuts could force the Pentagon to put on hold several key weapons development programs, including efforts to build a next-generation fighter and a more efficient aircraft engine. Carter, in written testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee, said if Congress forced the Pentagon to live within current spending caps, the department would have to put on hold programs like the Aerospace Innovation Initiative, which is working on the next generation of fighter aircraft.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors against over-prescribing testosterone-boosting drugs for men, saying the popular treatments have not been established as safe or effective for common age-related issues like low libido and fatigue.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.